« Great For Scratching »

The Stanton STR8-80 is a direct drive turntable (Meaning the platter is turned directly by a motor instead of by a belt). The STR8-80 Stanton's highest torque direct drive motor to date. 3 speeds - 33, 45, 78 RPM, Selectable pitch adjustment (± 8%, 12%), Blue 33 and 45 RPM Pitch LEDs, Remote Start S/PDIF digital output, which you can plug straight into Mac/PC or CD-R. It comes witha Stanton 520 SK DJ Cartridge pre-mounted on a silver headshell. The mixer's straight tonearm is great for scratching and mixing, and the platter is very responsive and has good resistance. The needle never skips and is not too hard on your records, though it could be better with some kind of suspension system. I use a pair of these as backup decks on gigs, and sometimes use them for practice and scratching on recordings. They are very full featured, and sound good. These turntables have straight tone arms. The S-shaped gives superior sound quality, however the straight arms are better for DJing and scratching. The only gripe I have with the STR8-80 is that the body is made of plastic. If you want your turntables to last a very long time, plastic is unacceptable. Another feature that this turntable doesn't have that the two aforementioned do is the ability to change the height of the tone arm for stability. Overall however, these are good tables that have lasted me a good amount of time, and were well worth what I paid. I really like these decks and they get a pretty good amount of use on at least a weekly basis. I would recommend these as a good and cheap pair of backup or travel decks, maybe a good present for your kid if they want to get into DJing since they are so cheap. These are really good tables for beginners.